thenatureofmind

Shooting the Messenger

There is a deeply misguided attempt to sacrifice Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, Chelsea Manning and Jeremy Hammond on the altar of the security and surveillance state to justify the leaks made by Edward Snowden. It is argued that Snowden, in exposing the National Security Agency’s global spying operation, judiciously and carefully leaked his information through the media, whereas WikiLeaks, Assange, Manning and Hammond provided troves of raw material to the public with no editing and little redaction and assessment. Thus, Snowden is somehow legitimate while WikiLeaks, Assange, Manning and Hammond are not.

Shooting the Messenger | NationofChange.

Under the Global Shadow of Big Brother, Journalism Must Light Up the Political Sky

From incessant war and arming the world, to climate change and coddling fossil fuel industries, to anti-democratic governance and enabling vast NSA surveillance, the U.S. power structure -- with epicenters along Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue -- continues to dominate. That power structure is a clear, present and horrendous threat to human survival, the natural world of this planet and the possibilities for authentic democracy.

Under the Global Shadow of Big Brother, Journalism Must Light Up the Political Sky | Common Dreams.

Snowden receives Sam Adams Award in Moscow

Lavabit: How One Company Refused to Give FBI "Unrestricted" Access to Emails of 400,000 Customers

"Whistleblowers, Journalists, and the New War Within" -- Part One

This is the first of two panels at the Government Accountability Project (GAP) whistleblower conference, "Whistleblowers, Journalists and the New War Within," at the National Press Club on July 25, 2013. The first panel, moderated by syndicated columnist David Sirota, focused on the experiences of national security and telecom whistleblowers.

Panelists included (from left to right):

1. - William Binney, Former NSA Technical Director
2. - J. Kirk Wiebe, Former NSA Senior Analyst
3. - Thomas Drake, Former NSA Senior Executive
4. - Jesselyn Radack, GAP National Security & Human Rights Director
5. - Julian Sanchez, Cato Institute
6. - Amie Stepanovich, Electronic Privacy Information Center
7. - Babak Pasdar, Telecom Whistleblower

GAP's Jesselyn Radack reads Edward Snowden's Statement for EU Parliament Committee

In a three-minute reading, Jesselyn Radack, National Security & Human Rights Director of the Government Accountability Project read the statement in full, and Snowden kicked off by calling the mass surveillance of whole populations "the greatest human rights challenge of our time".

A Brief History of European Internet Surveillance Policy: And What Maybe Next?

Caspar Bowden, as we heard yesterday, left Microsoft to work in privacy advocacy. Here's a full 48-minute presentation by him on European internet surveillance law.

Cyberpunks: The Second Great Crypto War

The first great conflict over cryptography and state power happened in the 1990s. In one corner were cryptographers equipped with subtle math, digital technologies, and new ideas. In the other were the Clinton administration and its National Security Agency (NSA), which sought to maintain and extend the federal government's control over cryptography. They struggled over the concept that cryptography could be classified as munitions, over requirements to include NSA-friendly chips in communication hardware, and, in general, over the shape of post–Cold War security.

The Second Great Crypto War

Police spies: in bed with a fictional character

He was a burly, funny scouser called Mark Cassidy. His girlfriend – a secondary school teacher he shared a flat with for four years – believed they were almost "man and wife". Then, in 2000, as the couple were discussing plans for the future, Cassidy suddenly vanished, never to be seen again.

Police spies: in bed with a fictional character

Senate Wants To Sneak Warrantless Spying Bill Extension Into Law Without Debate; Let’s Call Them and Tell Them No

The Senate is about to vote on an extension of the controversial FISA Amendments Act—the unconstitutional law that allows the NSA to warrantless spy on Americans speaking to people abroad. Yet you wouldn’t know it by watching CSPAN because the Senate isn't debating it.

Senate Wants To Sneak Warrantless Spying Bill Extension Into Law Without Debate; Let’s Call Them and Tell Them No